Why have banks been central to Australian political history?

On Afternoon Light #192 Georgina Downer speaks with Chris Berg on the history of banking regulation. A topic that is far-more engaging than it sounds, as it helped to shape the emergence and attitudes of both of our major political parties. As banks have been the central issue around which the clash over government involvement in the economy has been fought.

Chris Berg is a Professor of Economics at RMIT University. He is Co-Founder of the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, the world’s first dedicated social science research centre studying blockchain technology. The author of eleven books, he holds a PhD in economics from RMIT, for which his thesis explored the history of banking regulation in Australia.

How difficult is it to get politicians to invest in defence spending, even when a war is looming?

On Afternoon Light #191 Georgina Downer speaks with Augustine Meaher about the predictability of the fall of Singapore, how it embodied Australia's overreliance on great powers for defence, and reluctance to invest in re-arming itself ahead of World War II. A conversation replete with haunting lessons for today.

Dr. Augustine Meaher is a professor of National Security Studies at the USAF's Air University. His main areas of interest are European History and Politics with an emphasis on military history and politics. He is presently researching the United States military in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. He teaches Military History at the University of North Georgia. He has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and is the author of The Australian Road to Singapore: The Myth of British Betrayal.

The views he expresses in this interview are his own.

How does a singer become famous enough to feature on the $100 note?

On Afternoon Light #190 Georgina Downer speaks with Richard David about Dame Nellie Melba. Australia's first global superstar who sang for Kings, Queens & Tsars, her stage name paid tribute to marvelous Melbourne, helping to put it and Australia on the map.

Richard Davis is an internationally acclaimed writer specialising in biographies. He's written a series devoted to the lives of famous Australian musicians, including Close to the Flame: The life of Stuart Challender and Wotan's Daughter: The life of Marjorie Lawrence, published by Wakefield Press, as well as biographies of pianists Geoffrey Parsons and Eileen Joyce. These have enjoyed international critical success and earned Richard the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Award for the Arts. His latest book is Nellie Melba: The Legend Lives.

Why don't the British figure in narratives of post-war migration, when for decades they were still the largest migrant group?

On Afternoon Light #189 Georgina Downer speaks with Alistair Thomson about the 10 Pound Poms. Whose complex migrant stories provided us with plenty of Aussie rock icons, but also gradually revealed that Australia was not quite as British as either they or we assumed.

Alistair Thomson is Professor of History at Monash University in Melbourne, and was previously Professor of Oral History at the University of Sussex in England. His books include Anzac Memories: Living With the Legend (1994), The Oral History Reader (1998 and 2006, with Rob Perks), Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants (2005, with Jim Hammerton), Moving Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011) and Oral History and Photography (2011, with Alexander Freund).

Who was Australia's unluckiest Prime Minister?

On Afternoon Light #188 Georgina Downer speaks with Michael Easson about James Scullin, the PM sworn in the week of the Wall Street Crash. His 1931 electoral defeat was the last time an Australian federal government failed to win a second term; a record Anthony Albanese is desperate to avoid.

Michael Easson AM is a businessman, company director, former union leader and Labor historian. Thirty years ago, he was Secretary of the Labor Council of NSW [now called Unions NSW], a Vice President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; and Senior Vice President of the NSW ALP. He published Connor Court's Whitlam’s Foreign Policy as well as In Search of John Christian Watson: Labor’s First Prime Minister. His latest book is the Australian Biographical Monograph on James Scullin.

How did Australia develop its reputation as an exporter of higher education?

On Afternoon Light #187 Georgina Downer speaks with David Lowe to mark 75 years since the meeting that spawned the Colombo Plan. An innovative and enduring foreign aid program that helped our 'near north' neighbours to economically develop, winning 'hearts and minds' during the Cold War and inadvertently shifting Australian hearts and minds against the White Australia Policy.

David Lowe is the Chair in Contemporary History at Deakin University and has extensively published on Australia's involvement in wars, including its role during the Cold War, as well as aspects of Australia's foreign policies in the 1940s and 1950s. His notable works include Menzies and the 'Great World Struggle': Australia's Cold War 1948-1954 (UNSW Press, 1999), Ministers, Mandarins and Diplomats: Australian Foreign Policy Making 1941-1969 (co-authored with Joan Beaumont, Chris Waters, and Garry Woodard, MUP, 2003), Australia Between Empires: The Life of Percy Spender (Pickering and Chatto, 2010), and Remembering the Cold War (co-authored with Tony Joel, Routledge, 2013).

The son of a greengrocer who was an Italian immigrant, Santamaria became an incredibly influential figure in Australian politics. Yet for someone who had did not hold a formal position, was his influence overstated? And how did Santamaria color Menzies' own worldviews when the latter was in office? 

Samuel Chamberlain talks to Georgina Downer about his chapter in the recently released book Finding Menzies, and how Menzies formed his opinion on the anti-communist journalist. 

This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.

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Can you imagine Australia without government bureaucrats?

On Afternoon Light #186 Georgina Downer speaks with Colin Milner to tell the remarkable story of the Commonwealth's first public servant Sir Robert Garran. A father of federation and authority on the constitution, whose long career exerted more power and influence than some prime ministers.

Colin Milner, BA Hons, LLB (Sydney University), is a former official of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) who served as Special Representative to Nauru in 2004–05 and Acting High Commissioner in 2013. Currently a PhD candidate in the Australian National University’s School of History, he is preparing a thesis on the factors that shaped the world view of the distinguished Australian constitutional lawyer and public servant Robert Randolph Garran. He has produced numerous publications in this area, focusing in particular on Garran’s activities as the first Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department from 1901–1932.

How did inflation targeting and child endowment change Australia’s trajectory? And specifically, how did this create the middle-class economy we are familiar with today? 

Abby Smith talks to Georgina Downer about their chapter in the upcoming book Finding Menzies, how Menzies went about spearheading the Australian middle-class economy. 

This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.

➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: . 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Priscilla Spalding talks to Georgina Downer about their fascinating chapter in the book Finding Menzies: on how Menzies's political philosophy lifted a country after dark times, and let us all understand more about his character. 

This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.

➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: . 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute